“I realised television was for me; I picked it up very quickly. Everything – jazz, blues, folk, pop music, literature, feminism, ecology – I just absorbed it like a sponge, and I was prepared, because I had had poetry of noble thought read to me as a child.”...
He... got his first TV performance before he had even released a single, and slips into the third person, awestruck. “And suddenly, he connected with millions of people. How did he do that? And the cameraman loved it, and the directors loved it, and the producers loved it. How did I learn it so early? Because, what I’m about to sing to you, you already know.” The Gaelic singer-songwriter tradition is actually four: “poetry, music, theatre and radical thought”....
“Did I learn this before I was born? Or is it a continuum, that you are actually not a person, but a force, you are an energy, and this energy is manifesting itself in a character called Donovan, but I don’t own it, it’s part of a tradition?”...
“[C]an you believe that in 1969 the government were taxing the Beatles and I and others 96%?” Why, yes, I can believe it, because I recall a whiny Beatles song about it. “Taxman,” he croons momentarily. “But still, we were rich. I don’t think we ever saw any real money, because we were moving so fast and doing exactly what we wanted to do. We never had a purse.” Ah, hippies; too cool to have a wallet, never so cool as to forget about money altogether. “As long as I didn’t put my foot on UK soil, I didn’t have to pay any income tax. It wasn’t the money, it was the principle.”...
April 10, 2020
"It was like a Popeye cartoon: the street was like madness, sailors and tourists and police. Halfway through singing my first song, the wall behind me collapsed and the club behind broke into mine, and everybody was fighting."
Said Donovan, about performing in a club in Hamburg in 1965, quoted in "Donovan: 'Can you believe the Beatles and I were paying 96% tax?'" (The Guardian).
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We need to go back to at least 60% income tax on the rich and massive taxes on trust funds and inheritance. Those with the money should be paying for the Government. And if they want to leave the USA for some tax haven, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Even looking back to the 1980s, it was amazing that Reagan only cut the top rate to 50%. that was considered a great deal for the rich. Now, they scream and moan if they have to pay 37% or 15% on their massive capital gains.
" taxing the Beatles and I..."
Should be: taxing the Beatles and me...
One, two, three, four, one, two
Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
On one of the nostalgia facebook pages that I frequent, someone today posted a picture of Donovan with Bob Dylan and Mary Travers at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. I tried to copy it here but am not very adept. Anyway - easily googleable. Not even lunchtime and I have had two Donovan references today!
Rc said...We need to go back to at least 60% income tax
here's a Fun, yet Serious Question
Back then, what percentage of income taxes were paid by the top 10%?
How does that compare to NOW?
Back then, what percentage of americans PAID income taxes?
How does That compare to now?
My impression of Donovan is forever colored by the scene in the hotel room in Don't Look Back, when Donovan is suckered into playing his cute little song, and it seems ok, and then when he's finished Dylan launches into It's All Over Now, Baby Blue.
And Donovan is annihilated by the comparison. I honestly can't believe he didn't just kill himself that night. Goddurn, Dylan was a master troll, generations before anyone knew what a master troll was.
I think a lot of people's impressions of Donovan were forever colored by that scene. I can't believe anyone ever took him seriously again.
"Back then, what percentage of income taxes were paid by the top 10%?
How does that compare to NOW?"
The rich pay more now, because their share of the national income has SKY-ROCKETED. Never in the history of the USA have top 2% had a bigger slice of the National pie. As I said, those who have the money should pay the most. The greatest Boom in USA history from 1940-1973, occured when we had the highest income tax rates on THE RICH.
" taxing the Beatles and I..."
Should be: taxing the Beatles and me...
The first ("and I") is formal speech.
The second ("and me") is informal, colloquial speech.
That seems to be the grammatical understanding of most people now.
Donovan played a Donovanesque role in the 1965 movie If This Is Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium. I published an article about that movie in my blog about the movie Dirty Dancing.
Kevin said:
My impression of Donovan is forever colored by the scene in the hotel room in Don't Look Back, when Donovan is suckered into playing his cute little song, and it seems ok, and then when he's finished Dylan launches into It's All Over Now, Baby Blue.
The scene is on Youtube, here
Those who clamor for taxes of yore, always leave off the deductions of yore. Why is that?
Remember rail cars and pork bellies and interest on any loan for anything? Including credit cards.
rcocean:We need to go back to at least 60% income tax on the rich
Define "rich". How would you be able to classify someone a rich.
Do you want to tax income? Earned and unearned (pass through income) Do you understand what our progressive income tax system actually is or how it works?
Real estate is already taxed in multiple ways.
Are you proposing we go through people's closets, jewelry boxes, household appliances, autos owned, etc and do an annual inventory of everything everyone owns and tax that?
Do you really think that the "rich", whoever they are, are not going to be able to game the system and only the moderately "rich" with not enough resources are the ones to pay.
Do you think that there will be no reaction or unintended consequences?
Can you think through the consequences of your statement? (that was rhetorical...obviously you can't)
Really interesting guy. Americans, I think, mostly remember him for a couple of goofy quasi novelty songs, but he took his enormous earnings and ran a sort of incubator at his country home that nurtured a generation of British folk rockers. He taught Paul McCartney fingerstyle guitar playing for heaven's sake (of course Paul then went off and wrote "Blackbird").
rocean would have us go back to "feel good" tax the rich rates over the actual, effective increased collection of revenue we get from today's rates: " For example, in the 1950s, when the top marginal income tax rate reached 92 percent, the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid an effective rate of only 16.9 percent. In 1986, the top marginal income tax rate was 50 percent, and the top 1 percent paid 25.8 percent of all income taxes; thirty years later, the top marginal income tax rate had fallen to 39.6 percent, but the top 1 percent’s share of income taxes had risen to 37.3 percent."
rocean then says, "The greatest Boom in USA history from 1940-1973, occured(sic) when we had the highest income tax rates on THE RICH." As shown above, the tax RATES are meaningless, and based on the LOWER overall actual tax collection from the 1% during this time, this actually proves the OPPOSITE of what rocean thinks: when you keep taxes low, the wealthy use their money to invest and stimulate the economy.
He always struck me as a ponsy fruit. A pale boy, a wet. His delicate diction -- to my ears, like fingernails on a blackboard.
The scene in don't look back was filmed in 1965 but not released until 1967, by which time Donovan was well established. He's in the r+r hall of fame (although he does not have a Nobel, like all but 1 inductee).
When I hear of Donovan, I think of "Atlantis" and when I think of "Atlantis" I think of Robert DeNiro stomping some brains in Goodfellas.
This association does not bother me.
I was in Hamburg in 1964. With my Oma, and aunt Louise, visiting with German relatives and friends; my Opa was born there, but he had already died and I don't recall who was who.
We didn't go to the bars and clubs, just the hotel and some hair goods places (business) and Planten un Blomen with old people. It's a wonder it didn't put me off Germans and old people altogether.
Narr
Donovan was barely a blip in my circles
I know most people would disagree, but I think he’s better than Bob Dylan.
Honestly didn't know he was still alive. That's Showbiz.
The first thing that came to mind was the finale in Blazing Saddles."
One thing that struck me about Donovan in Don't Look Back was his intense focus with emulating Dylan in dress and behaviour and hanging on every word Dylan uttered. He would eventually create this hippie, flower child persona with music such as, Sunshine Superman, Wear Your Love Like Heaven, etc., but my lasting impression of him was of a seriously ambitious young Scot trying to make it in 60s music.
Kay at 10:45 AM
I think he’s better than Bob Dylan.
Donovan is ten times better than Dylan.
“The first ("and I") is formal speech.
The second ("and me") is informal, colloquial speech.
That seems to be the grammatical understanding of most people now.”
People have a tendency to use “and I” in situations where they would never use “I” alone. If you would not use “I” alone then it should be “and me”.
“I” is a subject; “me” is an object.
Today's crop of plutocrats need to be de-wealthed through anti-trust, not taxation.
"It was like a Popeye cartoon: the street was like madness, sailors and tourists and police."
Popeye cartoons don't have streets full of people.
A 96% tax rate changes people's behavior. Most of them try to become corporate enterprises so they're taxed on a capital gains basis. I've read that some Hollywood stars of that era, perhaps the less financially sophisticated, turned down roles or limited their activities. There's definitely a downside to 96% taxation. Money doesn't necessarily inspire the best people, but it inspires the most people......Donovan was a gifted songwriter. He wasn't Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan wasn't Mozart.
"Bob Dylan wasn't Mozart."
No but Prince was.
...and there he is: The most pretentious man in the whole world!
Donovan was a thing for possibly two years, tops. And he was never a serious performer, but a pop singer. He thought he was Radiohead, when really he was N-Sync.
He has extrapolated this brief brush with fame into a lifetime of nostalgia and name-dropping, and while he may indeed have met a lot of famous people, he was always the least important person in the room. He still is.
He's also obviously a little nuts. I can only assume that in his heyday, nobody noticed this, because everyone was on acid.
It's a toss up between him and Morrissey for the biggest tosser in music. All that said, he did actually make some great music, and I'd rather listen to his greatest hits than Dylan's.
rcoean: We need to go back to at least 60% income tax on the rich and massive taxes on trust funds and inheritance.
I love guys like you. Why stop at 60%? Seem kinda arbitrary. Especially when your goal is to punish people who have amassed some wealth. Why allow that at all. Why not 80%? 96% OK with you?
You realize that an income tax is a tax on my labor, my thinking, my efforts, my time of life, right? You're OK with staking a claim on my time of life and that of others. You are OK with saying- your time of life is mine and I am claiming it 'for the people'. So you are deciding who gets to be a slave and who decrees what amount of slavery is OK. This year. It might change next year. Maybe next year you decide you don't have the right to have children. Or the right to one's own religion. Or the right to own property.
People work their asses off to be able to leave something for their kids, beside a book on the random thoughts of Karl Marx. So you want to take away not only their time of life, but any remaining ability to help their next generation because...well, why? Who are you to claim not only my life, but future generations after me? Who the hell are you people?
Honestly- I wonder why so many libs are afraid of freedom. This government lives by the decree of the people. We quit paying- they are done. We quit agreeing to go along -they are done. Give Americans a government that will not allow them to live their lives for their own sake and you will have another revolution on your hands. And I don't mean the kind where college students mic-follow each other.
I love Donovan. I've loved him since his first single, "Catch the Wind."
I think it's *always* been silly and misguided to compare him to Dylan. Donovan is the sweet, gentle hippie. Dylan is much meaner! The fact that Dylan is aggressively mean to Donovan in "Don't Look Back" simply underscores the *difference* between the 2 men. I love them both, and they're just not in competition with each other.
I was thinking of "Don't Look Now" and couldn't remember them being in Venice, but it was such a weird movie, who knows?
I was discharged from the Army in Asmara in May of 1972 and traveled for 3 and a half months to Rome, Paris, Barcelona, Ibiza, Valencia, Alicante, Almeria, Ceuta, Nador, Fez, Casablanca, (took the "Marrakech Express" train from Casablanca to) Marrakech, Essaouira, Agadir, Goulimine, Tan-Tan, then back through Gibraltar, to Madrid, then Andorra, Toulouse and Paris, then back to USA.
In Andorra, I spent a week drinking free lager and lime with British expats who left England because of "1 for you, 19 for me, I'm the Taxman." The expats told me that many were in Malta too.
Haven't been back to Andorra or Morocco since then.
Everywhere is freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies, tell me where is sanity
Tax the rich, feed the poor
'Til there are no rich no more?
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you
Population keeps on breeding
Nation bleeding, still more feeding economy
Life is funny, skies are sunny
Bees make honey, who needs money, Monopoly
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you
"I'd Love to Change the World" by 10 years After. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYNmOy-krSw
Halfway through singing my first song, the wall behind me collapsed and the club behind broke into mine, and everybody was fighting”).
Isn't that the end of "Blazing Saddles"?
The first thing that came to mind was the finale in Blazing Saddles.
I usually read, then post. I missed your comment.
In his memoirs, Michael Caine talked about why he went into tax exile:
"... my accountant wanted to see me on an urgent matter. The sum total of our lunch together was that I must cut my standard of living drastically, die penniless or sell up everything and leave England. ... Our Labour government of the time, it seemed, was not bothered with Super-Tax* as an economic tool, as the majority of the people who were required to pay it had already left the country, so they were actually collecting less tax from the rich than the Conservatives had with much lower taxes -- so what was their motive if it was fiscally unsound? The answer came when I saw a Socialist minister on television making a speech in which he said that the rich were going to be taxed 'until they screamed.' I concluded that we were not talking about economics here but emotion, and that particular emotion -- envy, is not a good basis for government."
* The government was taking 82 percent of his income at the time.
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